Aloha! Happy National Banana Bread Day everybody! Celebrate! Proudly eat a whole loaf of banana bread on your own!

Here is this weeks chapter! It's a little short but it has a lot of info packed in!

Next one will most likely be out ahead of time, I've already got it about half way done but its from Loki's POV so its a bit of a challenge to write.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer in Chapter 1. Will add as necessary.

Thor and Odin stood on the edge of the destroyed Rainbow Bridge, both staring wide eyed at where Loki and Sleipnir were both just engulfed in blue flames. Thor looked over to Odin, "Father? Was that…."

"It would seem that your brother has gained the protection of a phoenix." Odin said slowly, "An ice phoenix." He swept his cloak out behind him, "We must go seek council on this matter."

"Yes Father." Thor agreed, hooking Mjolnir to his belt. His father latched onto his arm and in a swirl of gold they stood in the throne room.

The doors of the throne room blew open not a minute later to let in a small group of people led by the worried looking Frigga. The Queen walked as quickly as she could, while still keeping her decorum, up to meet her husband and son on the dais. "Are you well?" Frigga asked in a soft whisper as she looked over her husband and son in turn.

"We are well wife." Odin said, "Nothing that cannot be mended in a few days."

"And what of my other son?" Frigga demanded, her eyes hard. "Where is Loki?"

"Peace wife." Odin said, "We aren't sure."

"You aren't sure?" Frigga hissed in disbelief.

"Mother he was saved by a phoenix who disappeared with him." Thor explained in a surprisingly low tone, "So we aren't sure."

Frigga glared at Odin, "You will find my son. Or my displeasure will be known through the realms." she gave them both a warning look before settling in her position next to the throne stiffly.

Odin settled on the throne, Thor standing on the opposite side of Frigga, and looked over the small group who had joined them. Sif and the Warriors Three stood off to one side, subtly supporting a slightly weak looking Heimdall who looked determined to remain here. General Tyr and a few soldiers were also present, holding a shaking stable boy captive between them. "Where shall we begin?" Odin boomed out, "The direct defiance of my orders?" he asked, looking to Sif, the Warriors Three, and Heimdall who had attempted to assist Thor in his exile. They all bowed their heads. "Or what led to a stranger stealing my steed and, directly after that, my younger son." the stable boy shrunk in on himself at the mention of Sleipnir and General Tyr looked sour at Odin calling Loki his son.

"Your Majesty." Fandral began, stepping forward with a bow. "We only wished to support our friend in his time of need and alert him to the schemes Loki was enacting upon Asgard."

"I cast Thor out to learn his lesson on his own, if I thought he could learn that with you four with him I would have cast you out alongside him. Are you questioning my judgement?" Odin boomed, Thor gave a barely noticeable wince as his friends all bowed their heads.

"No sire." They all chorused.

Odin dismissed them as his eyes turned to Heimdall, "And you Heimdall. I expect better from you old friend. Your personal opinions of the person on the throne should not supersede your loyalty to the throne and Asgard themselves." Heimdall bowed his head, thoroughly chastised. Finally, Odin looked to Tyr, his soldiers, and the stable boy, "What of the stranger?"

"We cannot find anything conclusive at such an early point sire but we did find a stable boy who saw something after we were alerted to Sleipnir's run through town." Tyr said, he pushed the stable boy forward roughly making him stumble and fall to his knees.

"Your name?" Odin asked, looking down his nose at the boy.

"Endre." The boy squeaked fearfully.

"What did you see?"

"Sleipnir started acting strangely right before the incident. He went into the deep pasture which he usually only does in the mornings." Endre rushed out, his eyes wide. "I followed to make sure he wasn't hurt or sick. I saw the girl take off Sleipnir's bridle." He said, taking the broken piece and laying it in front of him. "The girl turned into a bird and then back, then Sleipnir took her onto his back and they ran off." Endre finished all in one breath, his eyes wide and his hands fidgeting nervously.

Odin nodded, "I see." The second he looked away from the boy, Endre let out a relieved breath. "General, take your men and find what you can about this stranger and how she got in."

"Yes sire." Tyr said, bowing before he and his soldiers walked out to get started immediately, Endre following behind uneasily.

Next, Odin looked to Heimdall, "Once you have recovered, retake your post. Also take that time to rethink your priorities. Old friend or not, if something of this nature happens again I will have to take action."

"Of course sire." Heimdall said, bowing his head.

"Once you have returned to your post begin searching the realms for Loki and the stranger." Odin ordered.

"Yes sire."

Finally, Odin looked to Sif and the Warriors Three, "You four have been warned before that your status as my son's friends and brothers and sister in arms does not give you the right to break the laws we hold sacred or to ignore orders given by your superiors. You will be punished for your blatant disobedience."

Sif stepped forward, "Sire, we did attempt to request passage from Loki before we disobeyed. We only wished to help Thor…"

"Silence!" Odin demanded, banging Gungnir on the ground. Sif shrunk back a little, "Your excuse does not change a thing. I gave the order before The Sleep took me. Loki, the acting ruler, denied you your request. You disobeyed both of us, your Kings, who you have sworn loyalty too. You will be punished. There will be no arguments. You will be relieved of your weapons and warrior status for two months and spend one of those months working in the fields. Now leave us!"

The Warriors Three and Sif looked to Thor but when he made no move to interfere with his father's order they bowed and left dejectedly, taking the still weak Heimdall with them. Once the family was alone Frigga looked to Odin with a raised eyebrow, "Husband? You did not handle as I expected."

Odin sighed, "If we are to see a phoenix among us once again I can no longer overlook things I once did. Especially if this one views Loki as Flock." He looked to Frigga, "You remember what happened the last time."

Frigga's lips twitched in her effort not to smile, "Do I remember the mass exodus of phoenixes from our realm after you ignored the warning of a sorcerer's familiar and locked the man away from the phoenix leading to the destruction of the Palace and the creation of the Phoenix Laws? No husband, I do not."

Odin did not look amused at his wife's little tirade, "Yes wife, I see that you don't." he said dryly, "That incident, as terrible as it was, was only after I locked the sorcerer away and with an ordinary fire phoenix. If Loki has gained favor with this female ice phoenix who has the ability to change into a bipedal form, things could be much worse this time, especially if I attempt to punish him for this latest scheme of his."

Frigga's borderline smile turned to a frown of disapproval, "If you had been honest with him from the beginning he may not have attempted to enact this scheme. And I highly doubt your punishment would be fair considering the person and circumstances involved."

Odin let out a heavy breath, "Yes, wife. You've made your displeasure at how I have conducted things in regards to Loki known for quite some time."

Frigga glared at him for several seconds before descending the dais, "You will continue to look for him until he is found. I will pray that the Norns bless me with a vision in regards to my youngest son. Until he is found I shall be in my chambers." She said primly as she walked from the room.

Odin let out another sigh and let his face fall into his free hand, Thor frowned between the door and his father. "Father, if I remember my lessons correctly phoenixes are very protective of those they choose to protect. Will this one not take issue with what has been done to Loki in the past?"

Odin looked up at his son and shook his head, "I'm afraid I just don't know Thor. I have never heard of a phoenix having a form like ours. I'm not sure how that will affect her perception of slights against one she may see as flock." He looked forward again and tightened his grip on Gungnir, "We will just have to be prepared."

Down on Midgard, Clint was sitting on top of one of the Shield SUVs with Artemis perched on the ski rack next to him as they watched the other agents scurry around, taking down their field base now that the hammer was gone. Clint was stroking Artemis' wing and, even though he looked attentive, was deep in thought.

Yesterday he had 'met' Harriet.

He wasn't sure how exactly he felt about that.

She had promised not to come to him until he was ready and, to be honest, he had been close to calling her several times, especially after he had received the miracle pain reliever and bruise remover but having her show up before he had called had put him a bit off balance. He had been prepared to shoot and bring her and the blonde with her in to be interrogated but when he had gotten a good look at her she had been laying there looking a bit weak. So he had listened to her talk to him through Artemis. He was grateful that she didn't push him, even knowing that he was there. On the plus side, it hadn't seemed like she was even there for him. She had talked about the intruder and given him information about what was coming without one mention of him calling her to meet officially and then disappeared with her friend.

So Clint was a little on the fence about their 'meeting'.

He glanced down at the bracelet connecting him to the strange girl.

Clint didn't like to admit it but he was worried for her. He had looked her up like she had invited him to and that was where the worry had begun. Being only eleven she had a very small bit of information on her but what little there was alluded to some very disturbing things. After the documentation of her parent's deaths there wasn't anything at all (including medical records) until she had suddenly showed up in a Primary School with multiple documented visits to the nurse's office within the first week that had led to a report of child abuse. A report of child abuse that had been miraculously 'forgotten'. After that the visits to the nurse's office had stopped completely, not even for the normal little kid excuses. Abuse was reported a few more times but those were either ignored like the first or had come away as way too perfect to be real. There had been only two school pictures with the file and from just looking at the small, hunched over, much too thin girl with dull eyes and an emotionless expression Clint could tell something was wrong. He had looked into her guardians and glared at the obvious difference in health between the small girl and the various Dursley's. But in her first letter she had said they were being taken care of so he had just tagged their presence within the Shield data base and shoved it to the back of his mind.

This morning though, Clint's worry had risen a bit more. Just after the strange people had shown up looking for 'Donald', Clint's bracelet had shimmered and the cool, comfortable presence that he had learned to associate with the band had disappeared and was replaced a few moments later by a warmer, slightly overbearing presence. The bracelet had never done that before and, while he could still feel the protection that kept him at a constant temperature and protected him from the elements, the change in the bracelet's feel had thrown him off a little bit. He wanted to know what had happened to cause that because he had no doubt that it had been caused by something happening to Harriet. Then later, just about twenty minutes after Hammer Time and his own personal cosplay posse had left, the bracelet had flashed again, exuding a quick shock of cold before going back to the warmer presence. To seemingly ratchet up his worry even further, Artemis had cooed at the bracelet after that and rubbed her head against it.

"Agent Barton." A stern voice interrupted his thoughts, he blinked and looked down to see Phil looking up at him with his usual slight smile, wearing his usual bland suit, and standing in his usual stiff stance that he still miraculously remained comfortable in. Clint cocked his eyebrow at the use of his title, "You didn't answer me the first couple times." Phil answered his non-verbal question. Clint gave his handler a sheepish look and jumped from SUV, in the next second Artemis glided down to perch on his shoulder and looked at Phil with the same expectant expression as Clint. Phil gave the hawk a small smile and offered her a piece of chicken he pulled from somewhere in his pocket, Clint smiled at their interaction. After Artemis had eaten Phil turned back to Clint, "Report."

Clint sighed and relaxed a little under his handler's order, "I'm worried about her. I already told you she was here yesterday looking like she wasn't feeling well. But the bracelet has been acting up today which made Artemis coo at it, something just doesn't feel right." He hung his head, "I'm afraid those Dursleys have done something to her. Or worse."

Phil tilted his head at Clint, "In her first letter she said they were being taken care of and neither of her letters indicated she was in distress."

Clint frowned, "I know, but since I put the bracelet on it hasn't changed. Sure it glowed a bit when I was hurt but then the second letter came, I took the meds, and the glow died. Now it doesn't feel cool, it feels warm and it doesn't give of a feeling of comfort, it feels overbearing, like Nat when one of us is severely wounded. And then just a little bit ago it gave off this spike of cold that made Artemis coo at it! This is the most active it's been! She said it would tell her if I was healthy so I assume its connected to her in some way!"

Phil put a calming hand on Clint's shoulder as he got more and more worked up, both he and Natasha were a little worried about Clint becoming so attached to someone he had never even met. They too had looked over the file of one Harriet Rose Potter and agreed with Clint's assessment of the information given; however, they were content to sit back and wait until the mysterious child requested help, Clint though had formed an instant connection with her even without meeting the girl. They weren't sure what would happen when the two met and so they tried to calm Clint's worry and help him think through things beforehand.

"Clint calm down. Don't do anything rash." Phil counseled easily, "Breathe." He ordered, the archer immediately drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Good. We'll have a bit of a break while I'm finishing the paperwork for this operation. Why don't you send Artemis to her with a note? She said you could. That way you could check on her without doing anything rash."

Clint let out another breath and nodded shortly, "Yeah, I can do that."

Phil gave him a small smile, "Good. You go do that. I've got everything here." Clint gave Phil another nod and a lazy salute before walking off with Artemis on his shoulder, she preened his hair as he thought about what to write.

Bruce was trekking through a forest on his way to yet another remote village when the bracelet on his arm let out the pulse of cold. He stopped instantly and frowned down at it, Bruce went rigid when Hulk tried to push his way out in a fit of worry. Villard swooped down and landed on his shoulder, he hooted at the bracelet and cocked his head at it.

"Do you know about this?" Bruce asked the owl. The bird clacked his beak and flapped his wings in a pseudo answer. Bruce sighed and looked down at the bracelet as if it would tell him what he wanted to know.

He had already noticed a change in it earlier this morning; the feel of it had changed, enough that Hulk had noticed and had attempted to push his way out. What had surprised Bruce though, was that Hulk wasn't pushing to get out because of the usual overwhelming rage that he felt coming from his other half, but a deep worry that took him off guard. Bruce had already had suspicions that Harriet had somehow contacted the Hulk when he had transformed last, especially since he had woken up with a sheet over him, but he wasn't sure how far that went. The Hulk hadn't seemed too agitated when Bruce thought of her; in fact, what little agitation he did feel was more because the Hulk seemed to want to go to her.

Bruce sighed again and bit his lip before looking to Villard, "Should I write her?" The owl perked up at that and gave an enthusiastic series hoots in response. Bruce chuckled, "I guess I can check on her and then thank her for those potion things she gave me." And maybe hearing from her will calm down the other guy. Bruce thought with a slight grimace. With that in mind he set off to find a rock where he could sit to pen his letter.

Albus Dumbledore was a man of many plans, plans that he had most often see fulfilled. Now, his current plans were being thrown into chaos because of one naive eleven-year-old witch who had stupidly agreed to an interview with that meddling bitch Skeeter. True, many of his backup plans had been failing him first; James had finally died under the strain of the potions, Sirius had died in Azkaban because of what appeared to be a disease, Remus had committed suicide a couple weeks later, the stone had somehow been stolen without Harriet facing Voldemort, and his inside Goblin had been beheaded for embezzling, throwing his monetary backing into question. Now his main plan was being shook up as well and he was less than happy.

The new goblin in charge of Harriet's accounts, Griphook, had said that he hadn't yet had a chance to review all of the accounts dealings since he was so busy going over the recent reopening of one of the banks largest accounts. He had, however, said that he did not find any documentation of Albus' official guardianship of Harriet and would not allow a marriage contract to be activated for his client until the documentation was found or presented. Albus knew he had to find a way to make a document to that effect to make sure that the late Potter's wills were not opened and that didn't lose control of the girls deep vaults, not to mention have the items he had taken from her reclaimed by Gringotts. It took all Albus had not to kill the damn goblin where he stood for leading him along the path to losing his biggest asset.

The girl herself was being difficult. For some reason the potions weren't taking. He knew she had received them and he could tell from the level of magic he felt from her that the bind was still in place, so he knew she hadn't had them removed at Gringotts, he just couldn't understand why they weren't taking effect. She wasn't hostile towards the Slytherins (though she didn't particularly like them either), she wasn't interacting with Ron or Hermione at all, she wasn't acting beaten down from the Dursley's care (care he had paid good money for), and she wasn't struggling in class like she should have been with her magic bound and no prior knowledge of the wizarding world. He couldn't understand how she had even managed to get her letter, the Dursely's were supposed to keep it from her so Hagrid could 'save' her and plant some ideas in her head early. Luckily she had met the twins and Lee before any of the friendly students from the other houses, he really would have had to change his plans if she had managed to land in Slytherin.

Oh course she just had to cause more trouble by coming back into the wizarding world before the next school year and meeting Skeeter. Ever since the article he had been swamped with mail demanding answers to questions he had hoped would never be posed. His presence had already been demanded by the Wizengamot and he knew they would demand to be given Harriet's location, he just hopped that he could stall them long enough to get the house cleaned up and the girl under the imperious long enough for the home to be checked and the claim to be unsubstantiated. He also had to make sure that the girl knew he was her guardian without a doubt and that he was the only one with her best interests in mind.

He could not lose his control over the girl-who-lived at such an early date. Not if he was to reach his goal.

Endre means 'he who rides alone' and he may show up again later. He's Sleipnir's personal carer and the horse likes him.

Odin didn't assign anyone to guard the bridge while Heimdall recovered mostly because without the Bifrost dome there isn't much to guard at the moment(they can't really guard all the other ways into Asgard aka. the secret paths that Loki takes).

I have Odin call the Odinsleep 'The Sleep' mostly because it sounds pretty stupid when he says it. Like... "Odin no talk now, Odin sleep!" Like some caveman bullshit. So when the Alldude talks about stuff that he has inserted his name into I will call it 'The (whatever it is)' aka 'The Sleep' or 'The Force' (first off, lol, but I'm talking about the Odinforce that is accessed with Gungnir).

Note, that Odin thinks that Harri is a phoenix who can somehow turn human, not the other way around. She'll have fun dicking with him once she knows that's what he thinks.

Also, I'm not trying to turn Odin into a good dad. He's a jackass and both I and Harri have our issues with this idiot. He's not doing this because he 'suddenly cares for loki' or 'cared all along but was misguided' because that's not where I'm taking this. He does care for Loki as a son but the sudden want to be fair is mostly because Loki now has a phoenix on his side who he believes could destroy the realm if she views their treatment of Loki unfair(she could of course with a good enough plan but that's not her goal).

Frigga on the other hand I always saw as a good momma and when she meets Harriet she will be sure to take her under her wing. Frigga didn't agree with Odin's plan but because he's the king she must defer to her husband despite her own view of his idiotic plan. She loves Loki as her own and that will never change.

Thor is a bit OOC aka 'quiet for once' in this but I did that so we could get a view of what was going on without his posturing. Just take it as he is thinking over the fight and what has been going on and is willing to let his father take lead on this.

"Hey author why didn't Clint react to Harriet apparating away with Luna?" He's a shield agent, he sees weird shit all the time. Besides, he already knows there is something different about Harriet, what with the trained hawk, special arrow multiplying rings, bird armor that gives Artemis powers, special bracelet, and potions. Therefore, disappearing? No big deal.

"come away as way too perfect to be real" meaning that the check didn't have any red flags at all. They would have at least put down the real reason for whatever tipped them off to the abuse was in the first place.

Yay Phil!

The Bruce part is short, sorry, but at the moment he doesn't have much going on besides the usual.

Dumbles knows the stone was taken but he assumes it was Voldie.

Harriet's magic IS NOT BOUND. She keeping it in tight control to fool the old man.

Dumbles knew that if the bind was taken off then the potions would have been taken out as well.

So that's that. Probably not what you guys were wanting but I promise the next part is coming. I am writing it from Loki's POV so, like I said, its a bit of a challenge for me. See you next time!